Without Television
I am a product of my generation. Television is my friend. When I was growing up in the 70’s and 80’s television was the reward for doing homework. In my family we watched Cosby and A-Team before bedtime. In my mind the achievement of adulthood was staying up late. My family teases that I stayed up so late watching TV that the TV would end up watching me. My children looked forward to Sunday nights to watch the Amazing Race and imagine if they could survive in a foreign country. Now we are in a foreign country and the TV that was my constant companion since childhood has been left behind. We have a variety of digital media that we watch from a hard drive and DVDs. Somebody sent us the entire I Love Lucy series which we enjoy regularly. We have also discovered the show Parenthood, which we watch after the children go to bed. The show’s opening credits include photos of the principle cast as children, encouraging you to believe that these people have grown up together. Even
though we know these actors had no prior relationship before they were cast, for the sake of the show we believe they all belong to the Braverman family. Almost in the same way Family Ties made me believe Meredith Baxter-Birney raised Alex, Mallory and Jennifer Keaton. Sometimes Parenthood presents such a strong case for family strength I want to be a part of their family as well. As a child I wanted to be a part of the family with a mother who was a lawyer and a father who was a doctor (and former stand-up comedian) with their five children, even if I would’ve been their only white child (and thirty years ago every Thursday night for 22 minutes I kind of was). Television is a powerful medium for showing us something beyond ourselves whether it is a race around the world or how a family could live with and love each other, no matter what.
Here in Uganda we are nearing the end of the long dry season and preparing for the rains to come. On the property we are still focusing on soil restoration. This means planting in some spaces that haven’t been used for a while so we can let the overworked areas lie fallow. Crop rotation is not a traditional farming method here which reduces the soil’s ability to grow healthy crops. One of these places is a forgotten sweet potato field that may or may not produce this season because the soil has no life in it. Normally we don’t do this much digging (see above photo) but to clear the weeds and get some order back to this plot we had to bust up the abandoned potato mounds. The children have been helpful in getting this space ready and developing our sunflower garden. We have a number of seedlings growing and as soon as the rain starts we’ll start transplanting.
When asked why I chose agriculture the answer is easy, I like to eat. When asked why Africa? I go back to my TV families, I like to belong. Last week I got to share my testimony with the whole base. I told them the story of our son Wilson and how his death crushed us and could have ended our hope. Instead, we put our trust in God, steadied ourselves with those around us, and took the next step. God gave us grace and our family grew. Along the way God brought others to us who wanted to belong. For better or worse Ugandans didn’t have exposure to the Huxtables or the Bradys or the Taylors (if you go all the way back to Mayberry) to give them an example of what family could be. They have family. Their clan or tribe is valued above their nation, but they are approaching a crisis where the children out number the adults. When this generation is gone, leadership will be left to children who have no model to follow. Our mission here as a family is to do that. Be a family. In a small way we model the idea that there is another way besides the way it has always been done. We strive to represent that in farming and in family. Thank you for supporting us to bring hope to the people of Uganda.
Photos, top from left, The Family busting up the soil chunks in an obviously posed shot, a better posed group shot, Jax watering sunflowers. Bottom row, Jeri and Zoe singing with the worship team, our mandazi version of french toast, Sean sharing at weekly devotion.
Over a year ago we declared our intentions to represent you and do something bigger in this world. So many folks came alongside us and supported us, without you none of this is possible. We are only just beginning. We have big plans and dreams not only to improve the lives of our Ugandan community but to deliver some new lives as well. These posts will hopefully keep you connected to us and the work you sent us to do.
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